Supreme Court rejects Trump's push to toss $7.25 million verdict in E Jean Carroll sexual abuse case

The US Supreme Court has rejected a push by President Donald Trump to throw out a jury’s finding that he sexually abused the writer E Jean Carroll at a New York City department store in the mid-1990s and later defamed her.

The court declined to take up the case in a brief, unexplained order on Monday, as is typical. There were no noted dissents.

Trump’s lawyers had argued that allegations leading to the $US5 million ($7.25 million) verdict were propped up by “highly inflammatory” evidentiary rulings, including those that allowed the testimony of two other women who accused Trump of sexual abuse decades ago. Trump has denied all three women’s allegations.

Trump’s attorneys argued the judge broke federal evidence rules in the case. They framed it as a distraction from Trump’s unique duties as president, though the verdict came before his return to the White House.

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“This mistreatment of a President cannot be allowed to stand,” Attorney Justin D Smith wrote in court documents. Trump, a Republican, has since nominated Smith to be an appeals court judge.

The decision comes as the court hands down opinions in the biggest cases of the term, many key to Trump’s agenda.

Trump has publicly vented his frustration with Supreme Court losses in highly personal terms before, including unusual and highly personal criticism when the majority struck down global tariffs he imposed under an emergency powers law.

Carroll’s lawyers had urged the justices to pass on the case. They argued that the women’s testimony was relevant because the allegations were similar and that Judge Lewis Kaplan’s decisions were in line with others around the country.

“This question is not worthy of review,” wrote attorney Roberta Kaplan, who is not related to the judge.

Carroll, a longtime advice columnist and former TV talk show host, testified at a 2023 trial that Trump turned a friendly encounter in spring 1996 into a violent attack in the dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman, a luxury retailer across the street from Trump Tower in Manhattan. The jury also found Trump liable for defaming Carroll when he denied her allegation in 2022.

A jury also awarded Carroll an additional $US83.3 million ($120.8 million) after a second defamation trial. Trump is also appealing that ruling, though it’s not yet before the Supreme Court.

Trump has successfully fended off other hefty court judgments, including a New York civil fraud penalty of more than $US500 million ($725 million) thrown out by a New York appeals court. 

The Supreme Court also granted him broad immunity from criminal prosecution in 2024, though it later narrowly rejected his bid to halt sentencing in his New York hush money case.